How to sell your own skill?

Wow! Folks undergo a lot of training over time to be able to sell one’s skill.

So I am pretty sure that my answer shall not tick all the boxes needed to understand ‘How to sell…’

In fact, no answer, no matter how comprehensive it seems, can possibly address such a question.

Here are 3 things from my side so that you can sell your own skill:

Define your skill well. The first job is to capture or express your skill very clearly in words. Mind you, this could turn out to be an iterative process until you really nail it. This may not just be a one-time job. So you will have revisit your definition of our own skill on many occasions.

Who needs your skill? Write down the kind of person or organization that might need your skill. It could many different kinds of people or organization actually. Write all of it down. Preferably in a list form. Once you write it down, try making guesses of who among your contacts matches what you’ve described above and might require your skill. Make a list of all these contacts.

Why they might not buy your skill: Make a list of all the reasons why they might not buy your skill when you approach them and tell them about your skill. Write down your answers or responses to all such reasons.

The above exercises are not one-time exercises. You may have to do them over and over again at different points. But if you do these exercises regularly, you shall get better at selling your skill.

Once the above exercises are done, step out of your comfort zone and try to call or email or meet these people. See how they respond. Remind them gently, beautifully, attractively, wittily. It takes plenty of enthusiasm to do this. Do not let rejection trouble you so much.

The more you write about your processes and experiences keeping the steps above in mind, the better you get at selling your own skill.

Hope this helps.